Portable desk



July 26, 1927. D, B OKELLY PORTABLE DESK *y Filed March 12. 1926 agg a,

Patentedv July 26, 1927.

UNITED STATES DAVID BARRON OKELLY, OF MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA. l

PORTABLE DESK.

Application filed March 12, 1926. Serial No. 94,187.

This invention relates to a portable desk. The desk is designed to be utilized by public speakers.

lt is the object of the invention to provide a device upon which the speaker may place the address to be delivered in typewritten or printed form, in the form ot a long scroll. The device comprises a simple mechanism whereby the typewritten or written address is unrolled from one roll and rolled onto another roll. Itis the object of the invention to provide a. device of this nature which is readily portable and may Kbe placed on any desk or table and whereby the speaker by ready and inconspicuous manipulation may unroll the scroll and cause successiveportions of it to come within his view. He may thus read his address without being hampered by the necessity of holding any notes or a bulky typewritten address.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 shows a plan view of the preferred embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 2 is a section on line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a side view of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 shows a detail.

Fig. 5 shows a modied form.

In the drawings constitutes an open casing. At the lower port-ion of the casing and mounted in bearings in the sides of the casing, is a roll 11 upon which the continuous sheet 12 which has the address written or typewritten thereon, may be rolled. At the upper end of the casing 10 is mounted the roll 13 which is designed to receive the continuous sheet 12 after portions of it have been read.v On one end of the roll 13 is the ratchet 14 mounted iXedly thereon. The ratchet 14 is mounted in the sides of the casing and is disposed at a point intermediate the rolls 11 and 13. A lever is mounted on the ratchet 14 at one end thereof in a manner to permit free oscillation of the lever 15 on the said ratchet 14. A spring 16 is disposed between the bottom of the casing 10 and the lever 15 and serves to maintain the lever 15 in its normal position as shown in the drawings. The plunger 18 is iiXedly attached to the end 17 of the lever 15.

A link 19 is mounted at its end 2O on the sha-ft of the roller 13 in a. manner whichy permits the link 19 to oscillate freely abou said shaft. The link 19 is provided at its lower end with a longitudinal slot 21 which is adapted to receive a pin 22 which is iixedly attached to the upper end of the lever 15. A stop 23 is mounted on the bottom of the casing 10 immediately below the slotted end ot the link 19. A pawl 24 is pivotally mounted on the link 19 at the point `25. The pawl 24 is mounted in its normal engagement with the ratchet 14 as shown in Figure 2, by the aid of the spring 26 which is liXedly mounted on the link 19.

By depressing the plunger 18 the upper end of the lever 15 is moved upwardly whereby the link 19 is moved upwardly above its upper end as a pivot and the pawl 24 by its engagement with the ratchet 14 causes the roll 13 to rotate and thereby unroll the sheetl from the roll 11 and roll said sheet onto the roll 13. lVhen the plunger 18 is released, the spring 16 causes the elements enumerated above, to resume the normal position shown in Figure 2, the pawl 24 at the same time sliding over the ratchet 14.

It desired, the operative elements may be duplicated on the other side of the device so asto make it possible to operate the roll 13 from either side. It is preferred, how? ever, to provide a simple device on the other sid-e which will cooperate with the lever 15 in such a manner as to operate the same pawl and ratchet mechanism shown in Figure 2. This may vbe accomplished by pivotally mounting on the opposite side `of the casing a bent lever 30. The portion 310i this lever is pivotally mounted on the sideof the casing at its lower end. Theupper end of this portion 31 is provided with a plunger 32. The portion 33 of the lever extends transversely across the casing andrests at its free end on the lever 15 at a point intermediate between its pivot point 14 and its lower end 17. lVllen the plunger 32 is depressed, the free end of the lever presses against the lever `15,v and thereby causes it to operate in the manner described above, to cause the roll 13 to rotate. y

A small roll 34 is mounted at a point substantially half way between the rolls 11 and 13 and is free to rotate on its axis. The sheet 12 which passes from roll 11 onto roll 13, travels over the roll 34, the roll 34 being so mounted that this portion of the sheet 12 is always disposed near the upper face of the casing 10. If necessary, the lever 15 may be slightly tapered or bent at a point j ust below the roll 34 as shown at 35 in Figure 2.

The casing may be utilized with its upper face entirely open so as to expose to the reader substantially a full page of reading matter. If desired, however, the upper face of the casing may be covered by means of a cover 39, shown in Fig. 4. The cover 39 has mounted within it a magnifying reading glass 40 which is so disposed that when the cover 39 is placed over the casing 10, the reading glass 40 will be disposed approximately over the roll 34. lVith the cover 39 in place, only a few lines of reading matter are exposed to view, but such lines maybe read through the magnifying glass 40. The cover 39 also has mounted thereon a lamp socket and a lamp bulb 37 and a reflector 38 which directs the light from the lamp onto the reading matter.

If desired, a collapsible supporting device 4l may be mounted on the lower face of the casing l0 so as to make it possible to rest the device on a flat table or desk, and thereby facilitate the reading of the manuscript.

Figure 5 shows a modified form in which -the supporting legs 41 are omitted and the casing is so designed that it may rest on a table by means of little rubber legs 50.

Vlhat I claim is:

l. A device for facilitating the reading of a manuscript, comprising a casing, a roll mounted for free rotation at the lower end of said casing, a second roll mounted for ,free rotation at the upper end of said casing, a ratchet tixedly mounted on said second roll, a spring pressed pavvl adapted to cooperate with said ratchet in the manner to cause the rotation of said roll in a predetermined direction, a plunger and operating means connecting the plunger and pawl whereby a depression of the plunger will cause the rotation of said second roll.

2. A device for facilitating the reading of a manuscript, comprising' a casing, a roll mounted for free rotation at the lower end of said casing, a second roll mounted for free rotation at the upper end of said casing, a ratchet ixedly mounted on said second roll, a spring pressed pawl adapted to cooperate with said ratchet in a manner to cause the rotation of said roll in a predetermined direction, a plunger disposedr at right angles to the plane of said casing, and operating means connecting the plunger and pawl whereby a depression of the plunger will cause the rotation of said second roll.

3. A device for facilitating` the reading of a manuscript, comprising a casing, a rolll mounted at one end of said casing, a second roll mounted at the other end of said casing, a ratchet fxedly mounted on one of said rolls, a spring pressed pawl adapted to`cooperate with said ratchet, a lever, a connection between said pawl and one end of said lever, and a plunger adjacent the other end of said lever.

4. A device for facilitating. the reading Aof a manuscript, comprising a casing, a roll mounted at one end of said casing, a second roll mounted at the other end of said-casing, a ratchet ixedly mounted on one of said rolls, a spring pressed pawl adapted to cooperate with said ratchet, a lever, a connection between said pawl and one end of said lever, a plunger adjacent the other end-of said lever, and a spring for forcing said other end of the lever and said plunger upwardly from the bottom of said casing.

5. A device for facilitating the reading of a manuscript, comprising a easing a roll mounted for free rotation at the lower end of said casing, a shaft at the upper end of said casing, a second roll mounted on said shaft, a ratchet xedly mounted on said second roll, a link freely mounted on said shaft, a spring pressed pawl on said link adapted to cooperate with said ratchet, a lever connected at one end to said link, and a plunger attached to the other end of said lever.:

6. A device of the class described, comprising a casing, a roll at .each end of said casing, a pawl and ratchet mechanism at. one end of one of said rolls for rotating said rolls, a lever for operating said pawl and ratchet mechanism, andmanual means on each side of said `device for operating said lever.

7. A device described in claim 6, provided with a removable cover and a magnifying glass mounted in said cover.

In witness whereof I have hereunto affixed my signature.

n. B. oKnLLY. 

